THE family of Merciless is considering a second autopsy to determine the entertainer’s cause of death.

“We have made a request for a second autopsy,” Claire Howell, Merciless’s eldest sister, told the Jamaica Observer.

“There is no final settlement yet, we’re still trying to figure out what we’re going to do, but by tomorrow [Monday, August 22] we will finalise, as a family, what we’re going to do. In fact, we’re waiting on the police to know what to do,” she continued.

Last week, Senior Superintendent of Police Marlon Nesbeth, head of the St Andrew Central Police Division, said that the results of the initial autopsy were “inconclusive”. The autopsy was done earlier this month. When an autopsy is inconclusive it means that the internal and external tests performed failed to provide a cause of death.

SSP Nesbeth said the police are now awaiting the results of tests sent to the lab, before giving an official cause of death.

Howell said that the family has been “getting a lot of enquiries about the date of the funeral”.

Initially, there had been reports that the thanksgiving service and the funeral will be held September 10, but that date may not be tenable. The funeral services will reportedly be handled by Audrey E Williams Funeral Services in Clarendon.

Merciless was found unresponsive inside a guest house on Walker’s Avenue off Beechwood Avenue in St Andrew on July 19. No foul play is suspected and it is being treated as a sudden death investigation.

Merciless, whose given name was Leonard St Ledger Bartley, hailed from Chapleton in Clarendon. He made his recording debut in 1994 with Lend Out Mi Mercy. In addition to Gal Dem Gizzada and Mama Cooking he also garnered new fans with Mavis and Mr Whodini.

He was renowned for several clashes; the most famous was against Ninjaman, Bounty Killer, and Beenie Man in a lyrical face-off during Sting 2000 at Jamworld Entertainment Complex in St Catherine.